Tabs in system task switchers

Abstract

Techniques for exposing tabs in system task switchers are described herein. In one or more implementations, input is received to initiate a switch between different applications executed in a multi-application computing environment. In response, a system task switcher is launched to facilitate selection of and switching between the different applications. representations of the different applications are exposed via a user interface for the system task switcher. In the system task switcher configured to include functionality accessible via the system task switcher to exposed representations of individual tabs open in applications having tabbed user interfaces. Responsive to a selection of a particular application via the system task switcher, a switch occurs to the particular application in the multi-application computing environment. If a particular tab is selected, the switch occurs to expose the application UI with the selected tab being presented as the active/top tab with focus in the application UI.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
 receiving first input to initiate a switch between different applications that are being executed in a multi-application computing environment, wherein:
 the different applications include a first application and a second application, and 
 the second application is executing first content in association with a first tab and second content in association with a second tab, the first tab in a top-level of a tabbed user interface (UI) of the second application and the second tab in a lower-level of the tabbed UI of the second application; 
 
 responsive to the first input, causing display of individual representations of the different applications via a switcher user interface (UI) for a system task switcher, wherein the switcher (UI) includes:
 a first representation of the first application, and 
 a second representation of the first tab being displayed in the top-level of the tabbed UI; and 
 
 receiving a second input in association with the second representation; 
 responsive to the second input, causing display of a third representation of the second tab being displayed in the top-level of the tabbed UI; and 
 responsive to a selection of the third representation via the system task switcher, switching the top-level of the tabbed UI from the first tab to the second tab. 
 
     
     
       2. The computer-implemented method as described in  claim 1 , wherein the second application is a web browser application. 
     
     
       3. The computer-implemented method as described in  claim 1 , wherein representations of individual tabs are rendered together with representations of the different applications. 
     
     
       4. The computer-implemented method as described in  claim 1 , wherein the second input corresponds to hovering over the second representation. 
     
     
       5. The computer-implemented method as described in  claim 1 , wherein the causing display of the individual representations of the different applications comprises showing an individual thumbnail for each tab of multiple tabs that are being displayed within the tabbed UI of the second application. 
     
     
       6. The computer-implemented method as described in  claim 5 , wherein multiple individual thumbnails for the multiple tabs are presented in a grid, a row, or a column. 
     
     
       7. The computer-implemented method as described in  claim 1 , wherein the individual representations of the different applications are displayed as a stack of items with tabs included, and wherein the system task switcher enables a user to cycle through the stack of items to select different items. 
     
     
       8. The computer-implemented method as described in  claim 1 , wherein the system task switcher implements the switcher UI to include:
 an application level switcher UI, and 
 a tab level switcher UI that is accessible via interaction with items that are displayed via the application level switcher UI and that have underlying tabs that are displayed in an inactive state. 
 
     
     
       9. A system comprising:
 a processing system; 
 one or more computer-readable media storing processor-executable instructions that, responsive to execution by the processing system, perform operations comprising: 
 receiving a first input to initiate a switch between at least a first application and a second application that are being executed in a multi-application computing environment, wherein the second application is executing first content in association with a first tab and second content in association with a second tab, and wherein the first tab is associated with a top-level of a tabbed user interface (UI) of the second application; 
 responsive to the first input, causing display of an application level user interface (UI) of a system task switcher, wherein the application level UI includes:
 a first representation of the first application, and 
 a second representation showing the first tab of the second application in association with the top-level of the tabbed UI; 
 
 receiving a second input in association with the second representation; 
 responsive to the second input, causing display of a tab level UI of the system task switcher, wherein the tab level UI includes individual representations for individual tabs that are open in the second application, the individual representations including at least a third representation showing the second tab in association with the top-level of the tabbed UI; and 
 responsive to a selection of the third representation of the second tab, via the tab level UI, switching the second tab to the top-level of the second application in the multi-application computing environment. 
 
     
     
       10. The system as described in  claim 9 , wherein the individual representations of the individual tabs are rendered together with representations of different applications. 
     
     
       11. The system as described in  claim 9 , wherein at least some of the individual representations of the individual tabs are omitted from the application level UI, and wherein the at least some of the individual representations of the individual tabs are exposed via the tab level UI in response to a user interaction with the application level UI. 
     
     
       12. The system as described in  claim 11 , wherein the user interaction with the application level UI includes hovering over the second representation of the second application. 
     
     
       13. The system as described in  claim 9 , wherein the application level UI includes individual thumbnails for individual applications that are being executed in the multi-application computing environment, and wherein the application level UI includes a single thumbnail for the second application that is executing the first tab and the second tab. 
     
     
       14. The system as described in  claim 9 , wherein the system task switcher is configured to:
 cause display of a plurality of application windows as a stack of items with tabs included, and 
 enable a user to cycle through the stack to select different items. 
 
     
     
       15. One or more computer-readable storage media storing processor-executable instructions that, responsive to execution by a processing system of a computing device, implement multiple levels of a system task switcher to perform operations comprising:
 receiving a first input to initiate a switch between a first number of different applications that are being executed in a multi-application computing environment, wherein a particular application, of the different applications, is executing content that is distributed across a second number of tabs in a tabbed user interface (UI); 
 responsive to the first input, causing display of an application level user interface (UI) for the system task switcher, the application level UI including application representations that correspond to the first number of different applications; 
 receiving, via the application level UI, a second input in association with a particular application representation that corresponds to the particular application; 
 responsive to the second input via the application level UI, causing display of a tab level user interface (UI) for the system task switcher, the tab level UI including tab representations that correspond to the second number of tabs, wherein the first number, that corresponds to the different applications that are being executed in the multi-application computing environment, is different than the second number that corresponds to the tabs that the content being executed by the particular application is distributed across; and 
 responsive to a selection of a particular tab representation for a particular tab, switching the particular tab to a top-level of the tabbed UI. 
 
     
     
       16. The system as described in  claim 15 , wherein the first tab is displayed in the second representation in association with a lower-level of the tabbed UI, and wherein the second tab is displayed in the third representation in association with the lower-level of the tabbed UI. 
     
     
       17. The one or more computer-readable storage media of  claim 15 , wherein at least one tab that is associated with a top-level of the tabbed UI when the first input is received is displayed in a lower-level of the tabbed UI in at least one tab representation of the tab level UI.